Quellion
| Quellion | |
|---|---|
| Siblings | Beldre |
| Abilities | Hemalurgist (formerly) |
| Aliases | The Citizen |
| Birthplace | Urteau |
| Residence | Urteau |
| Ethnicity | Skaa |
| Homeworld | Scadrial |
| Universe | Cosmere |
| First Appeared | The Hero of Ages |
Quellion is a skaa from Urteau on Scadrial.
Also known as the Citizen, Quellion is in charge of Urteau after the death of the Lord Ruler. Spook is sent by Elend Venture and Vin to gain intelligence on Quellion.[1] As a government officer in the city of Urteau, he wears red-dyed skaa trousers and work shirts.[2]
Attributes and AbilitiesEdit
Quellion has a bronze Hemalurgic spike in his upper arm until Spook removes it.[3][4] Via this piercing, Ruin appears to Quellion in the image of Kelsier. Although not originally an Allomancer, the spike gave him the powers of a Seeker, which then allowed him to easily find the Allomancers in the population of Urteau and force them into working for him.[4]
HistoryEdit
Both Quellion and his sister Beldre were half-skaa. This is due to the fact that their noble father had married a noblewoman who was barren. As she could not conceive children of her own she instead agreed that Quellion's father could father his children with a skaa maidservant. This was discovered by Obligators around the same time that the Lord Ruler was killed by Vin and due to the chaos surrounding the event, the two half-skaa managed to slip away from their execution.[5]
After escaping, Quellion built a coalition of skaa workers and took power in Urteau, elevating himself to the rank of Citizen. His government took inspiration from Kelsier's teachings, claiming strict adherence to his doctrine, and soon exterminated everyone of pure noble blood two generations back or less still living in Urteau for crimes against the skaa people.[6]
Quellion wasn't just searching for skaa with noble blood in order to kill them, however. He was looking for Allomancers. He would find Allomancers, take their families as hostages and keep them as leverage, forcing the Mistings to work as his soldiers by threatening their families. Although, this was kept highly confidential. He would organize his public executions to take place in noble houses that had secret escape routes so that the chosen Allomancers could escape the fire and join his ranks.[7]
He had genealogists catalog everyone's ancestry. Those who have pure skaa blood five generations back are allowed to serve in his government, while others were barred from office. While he had his scribes check the lineage of everyone five generations back, he only killed those who had noble blood two generations back or later, which was leading to a divide in the skaa population.[6]
He also kept the peace by allowing his people the freedom to spend their nights drinking fine wine, which would normally have cost a small fortune in gold, for the price of a fraction of a copper clip, thus keeping the populace drunk and content.[6]
Due to the economic collapse surrounding his ascent to power, Quellion had a new coin minted, to be worth only a fraction of a clip and be called a "pek".[6]
The Citizen's government notably disdained decoration and ornamentation. At first, he made it a law that as all men are equal they must all wear the same drab grey clothing. This was later changed so that government officials must wear red, as it will make them easily recognized and those in need will be able to quickly find them. As an official himself he thus also wore regular skaa work clothing which has been dyed red.[2] Later, he decided to approve blue solely for himself to wear and wore a costume which is dyed a deep blue, with the rest of his officials still wearing bright red.[7]
After an execution, Quellion saw Spook, who had infiltrated Urteau, talking to his sister and ordered his soldiers to attack him. Spook fought back, but Beldre helped two of his Pewterarm soldiers to overwhelm him.[2] Quellion tried to execute Spook by locking him in a building and setting it on fire, but he escaped.[8]
Quellion’s government didn’t last. Quellion was overthrown in the Coup of Urteau by Spook, Sazed, Breeze, and Allrianne Cett with the help of Durn and the skaa underground. In this confrontation, Spook led a riot against the Citizen and, despite interference from Ruin, he was able to pull out both Quellion’s spike and his own. The Survivor’s Crew claimed Urteau and its supply cache just before the final confrontation with Ruin.
Quellion survived the final confrontation with Ruin by taking shelter in Urteau's supply cache.[citation needed]